Lancaster Suffer Blow As They Fall To Trafford

Lancaster suffered another blow to their play-off hopes with a defeat against mid-table Trafford.

Chris Palmer scored the only goal of the game to secure the three points for the Greater-Manchester side.

To start with the game was very end-to-end, with both sides having chances. Trafford had a corner after just three minutes, and Neil Marshall headed just over the bar off the end of a free kick in the twelfth minute.

Despite the game being even early on, Trafford soon emerged as the side looking more likely to take the lead. The visitors came close to doing just that in the 19th minute when Kyle Jacobs hit a very good shot from the edge of the box, which was heading in, but Mike Hale managed to get a hand on it to tip the ball over the bar.

City looked shaky at the back for the majority of the first half, and Trafford continued to dominate. They eventually took the lead in the 31st minute through Chris Palmer, who drilled a shot in the bottom left hand corner to beat Mike Hale in the City goal.

Billy Akrigg could’ve equalised for the home side soon after, but he failed to do so with Saunders making a simple save.

Trafford went in at the break deservedly leading 1-0.

Lancaster improved after the break and could’ve equalised three minutes into the second half through Billy Akrigg, but his shot went wide following a free kick.

Zach Clark came on as a substitute for Lancaster in the 67th minute, and he was quick to influence the game with an early shot going just wide of the goal.

There weren’t a great deal of chances in the second half, and Lancaster found themselves battling for an equaliser in the last ten minutes throwing bodies forward. Captain Neil Marshall connected with a powerful corner by Ryan Winder in the 83rd minute only for his shot to reach the hands of Russ Saunders easily in the Trafford goal.

Trafford’s only real chance of the second half came shortly afterwards with substitute Raul Correia shooting wide.

Lancaster continued to push for a goal, and they should’ve scored in the last minute of normal time as Zach Clark found himself with the ball just three yards out but he spent too long on the ball and he was tackled by a Trafford defender with fans of the Dolly Blues calling for a penalty.

Gavin Clark made a good run with the ball towards the box in the second minute of added time, but he failed to provide a finishing product as his shot went sailing over the bar.

Lancaster earned a corner in the last minute of added time, which keeper Mike Hale raced up for, but Ryan Winder’s corner was cleared off the line by a Trafford defender. Unfortunately for Phil Brown’s side, it wasn’t City’s day and they fell to their first loss of the month.